It is not uncommon for women who are lactating to incur irritation of the breast and nipple areas. The nipples can become highly sensitized from nursing, and may crack or otherwise suffer any number of nursing-related topical problems. Chaffing of the breast or nipple area from clothing then becomes a concern. Aeration of the nipple area for certain conditions is also desirable.
Another problem associated with breast feeding is that some lactating women experience discomfort or are unable to breast feed because their nipples are inverted. Yet another problem is that breast milk may leak between nursing periods, staining overlying clothing.
It is thus quite desirable to protect the breasts and nipples of lactating women from the irritation or discomfort experienced from contact with clothing during the period they are nursing, and to aerate the nipples for certain conditions. It is also desirable to help those nursing females whose nipples are inverted to reinvert the nipple so they may be better able to breast feed. Protecting clothing from milk leakage is yet another desirable goal.
Products have been developed to prevent leakage of lacteal fluid that may stain clothing, or to prevent the breast and nipples of lactating females from coming in contact with outer garments that may cause chaffing or irritation. Aeration for the nipples is also provided by some devices.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,054,491 for a breast shield discloses a shield made of a semi-rigid cellulose material. The shield is placed directly against the breast, and an absorbant pad is secured in the lower portion of the shield to absorb any lacteal fluid that may leak from the breasts.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,771 shows a breast shield which is formed of a thin flexible material that is adapted to be placed inside the cup of a brassiere for collecting and retaining lacteal fluid. This shield encompasses the breast in intimate contact therewith, and uses a pad to absorb the milk.
Another device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,458 discloses a breast shield that protects the breast and nipple from external trauma. It directs the force of a blow along the rib cage of the wearer rather than on the breast itself. The shield closely encompasses the breast, and is formed from high impact absorbant material.
None of these previously used breast shields, however, provide for a shield that resiliently spaces the shield from the nipple area so that it does not contact the nipple. Rather, these breast shields enclose the breast and are in intimate contact therewith. This direct contact of the shields on the breasts, and on the nipples, in particular, can itself cause chaffing and irritation from the shields themselves. These prior art devices also do not apply a uniform pressure on the area of the breast surrounding the nipple to reinvert an inverted nipple.